


Resolutions

by Accal1a



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Pre-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-12
Updated: 2010-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-14 23:49:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3430112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/pseuds/Accal1a
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A ficlet exploring 9-year old Draco's experiences with making New Years Resolutions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Resolutions

Draco Malfoy was eavesdropping.

It was one of his favourite past times and one which he felt that he had really got the hang of in the last year. (He felt it was a much better hobby than he one that he'd had at aged six. Baiting the plants that grew in the window boxes was only fun the one time out of ten that they didn't try to kill you). The trick, he'd found, was to blend in, so people forgot you were there. Then, he'd noticed, the trick was to look like you weren't even listening, like whatever they are talking about was beneath you. For Draco Malfoy, aged nine, the majority of things were beneath him. He was a Malfoy after all, there wasn't much that was on his par.

"This year, I have decided I am going to be nicer to people." Spoke the pimple-faced gardener who was pruning the hedges.

Draco, listening from the other side of the hedge, unnoticed due to his green cloak and the fact that he had been there for over half an hour, thought he could try that out.

_Endeavour to be nice to people._ He carefully wrote in a small, black book he kept in the back pocket of his immaculately steamed trousers.

The resolution lasted just over seven minutes. His father smacked him round the back of the head and told him to grow a spine and his mother, assuming he was up to something, locked him in his room for the rest of the afternoon.

The next day, Draco over heard some of the kitchen staff. "This year, I have decided I am going to try and be happier."

_Smile more often._ He wrote neatly, hoping this day would be better.

Whilst this resolution seemed to be easier, it did not, as it turned out, fill his parents with glee. Rather than cheering up himself and those around him: His father was convinced he had swallowed something poisonous from his private stores and ordered seven feet of writing on the properties of several plants; and his mother, hysterical that she was about to be childless, made countless antidotes and forced them all down Draco's throat. By the time his purple-spotted visage had been dragged down from the ceiling they'd worked themselves up so much that he had been sent to bed with no supper.

On January 3rd, Draco was convinced he'd managed to eavesdrop a good resolution, one he would be able to work on properly and which would not get him in to any trouble.

"This year, I'm going to say 'Thank You' to people more often." A wizard, walking past the iron gates of Malfoy Manor explained to his partner.

Draco conscientiously wrote _Be considerate to all_ on the third line of his book.

On walking back into the house, he said "Thank You" to the House Elf who held the door open for him and quickly found himself dragged through the corridors by his ear.

Hanging in the dungeon, listening to his parents scream at each other, Draco Malfoy made the most important resolution of his young life:

_Make everyone's life a misery, they deserve it._


End file.
